


Just Because I Prefer to Fight…

by fallintosanity (yopumpkinhead)



Series: Once We Were Young [7]
Category: Marvel (Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Brotherhood, Brothers, Fluff, Gen, Sibling Rivalry, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-06
Updated: 2014-01-06
Packaged: 2018-01-07 18:20:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1122890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yopumpkinhead/pseuds/fallintosanity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor may prefer battle training to book learning, but that doesn't mean he's stupid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Because I Prefer to Fight…

**Author's Note:**

> Short ficlet, written for a prompt on Tumblr from heathleaves: 
> 
> _I'd like to read something with not!dumb Thor - maybe getting Loki out of trouble which he got himself into, coming up with a good plan for adventure or a way out of a situation, anything. I'm just really tired with the fandom depicting Loki and Thor as polar opposites in regards to intelligence. I know Loki calls Thor an idiot, but why does the fandom believe him and takes it to such extent as to make him an imbecile?_

“In this next scenario,” Tutor Ebbe said, “let’s talk about a more difficult situation.”

Thor could see Loki perk up, like a hound who’d spotted a fox, and sighed. Thor hated these sessions, where their tutor posed increasingly complicated and unlikely scenarios to them and they had to explain what they’d do. Loki loved them, but then he knew all the answers already, had long since memorized the Articles of Discourse and the Council Policy and the Inter-Realm… Inter-Realm… something, it didn’t matter. They were all a bunch of dry old documents written by dry old men. When Thor was king, he’d have advisors for this sort of thing so that he’d never need to bother with it.

“Asgard is at war with rogue fire giants,” Tutor Ebbe said. “The giants used magic and trickery to gain access to the Aesir war camp, and dishonorably slaughtered the army’s generals, its logistics officers, and its supply officers while they slept. They also destroyed much of the camp’s supplies and burned everything they could. You are taking command of what remains of the army. How would you go about restoring the army to full fighting capability before the fire giants can attack again?”

Thor sighed again, slouching across the table and resting his chin on his forearms. He didn’t want to think about hypothetical armies and fire giants, those were boring. He’d much rather be out on the sparring grounds, where he could train for _real_ fights and where he had a hope of spotting Sif doing her own exercises. She was gorgeous when she fought, and Thor could watch her all day.

Loki, meanwhile, was frowning in thought. “How many troops?” he asked Tutor Ebbe.

She shook her head. “With the generals dead, you aren’t sure.”

Loki’s brow furrowed. “All right. Um… What supplies did the giants destroy? What does the army need? When did the last shipment arrive, and when is the next one due?”

“The logistics and supply officers are also dead,” Tutor Ebbe reminded him.

Thor turned his head to stare out the window. _Boring_. He wished Loki would stop asking stupid questions and just answer already, so they could get this over with.

But Loki was frowning in earnest now, eyes searching back and forth across the table as if he was trying to read the answer from its carved surface. “What about records?” he asked, a little desperately. “The officers should have kept records—”

“Burned with the supplies,” Tutor Ebbe said calmly.

Loki slammed his hands on the table. “This is impossible!” he shouted.

Thor jumped, startled; he’d been daydreaming about talking Sif into joining him for a swim in the Silver Arcade. He looked over at Loki, who was glaring at Tutor Ebbe, green eyes narrowed and furious. “We can’t answer this,” Loki snapped. “You ask the impossible. How are we to reconstruct the army if we know nothing about it? How are we to reestablish a supply chain if we don’t know what is needed? How are we to—”

Thor rolled his eyes. “Are there any surviving squad sergeants?” he asked over Loki’s tirade.

“Yes,” Tutor Ebbe said.

“Talk to the squad sergeants, have them tally their surviving men. Spare a few to survey the supplies, and ask the sergeants which of their men tracks the supply shipments,” Thor said, and when Tutor Ebbe started to speak, added, “There’s always one in every squad who knows when the shipments are due and exactly what’s coming. If the sergeants don’t know who it is, the warriors will. Any warriors don’t have a commanding officer, they’re reassigned as temporary supply and logistics officers, and everyone else continues as usual.”

Tutor Ebbe nodded. “Well done, Thor.”

Loki was staring at him open-mouthed. Thor grinned at him. “You should spend more time in the barracks, little brother, instead of locked in the library with your books. The soldiers know more about how the army works than most of the officers, you just have to ask them.” He looked back at Tutor Ebbe. “May I be excused? I’ve a match against Tyr this afternoon and I’d like to prepare.”

“Go on with you,” Tutor Ebbe said. She was smiling, the fond smile she usually reserved for Loki when he’d done something well.

Thor was out of his chair and halfway to the door by the time she’d finished speaking. “My thanks!” he called over his shoulder.

The last thing he saw before the door closed behind him was Loki, still staring at him, green eyes wide and startled, mouth open in a little O of surprise. Thor smiled to himself.

Sometimes you just had to show little brothers why you were the elder, after all.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Just Because I Prefer to Fight…](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5557754) by [fallintosanity (yopumpkinhead)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yopumpkinhead/pseuds/fallintosanity), [sisi_rambles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisi_rambles/pseuds/sisi_rambles)




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